Holder for collapsible tubes



Nov. 6, 1962 H. MORGAN 3,0

HOLDER FOR COLLAPSIBLE TUBES Filed Sept. 19, 1960 re a INVENTOR. HUGH L. MORGfl/V ATTORN EYS United States Patent Ofiice 3,062,490 Patented Nov. 6, 1962 3,062,490 HOLDER FOR COLLAPSIBLE TUBES Hugh L. Morgan, Salkum, Wash, assignor of one-tenth to Ledford-Todd Corporation, Portland, Oreg. Filed Sept. 19, 1960, Ser. No. 56,729 2 Claims. (Cl. 248-108) This invention relates to a holder for collapsible tubes containing viscous substances such, for example, as tooth paste, shaving cream, and the like. The invention pertains more especially to a holder for a collapsible tube from which the cap has been removed so that portions of the contents can be more easily and quickly dispensed as periodic calls therefor arise. The holder of the present invention is of that type, portrayed for example in United States Patent No. 2,296,016, having a rubber disc into the aperture of which the threaded neck of the tube is pressed.

As important objects, the invention aims to provide a fabricated tube holder of comparatively simple design which is unusually attractive in appearance, which can be inexpensively produced, and which permits the use of plastic moldings for substantially all of the component parts.

A further important object is to provide a tube holder which effectively conceals from view any of the contents of the supported tube which may have become extruded from the tube after the latter has been inserted in the holder, thus precluding the development of an unsightly condition.

As a yet additional object the invention aims to provide a tube holder which, simply by holding the same under a water faucet, can be quickly and thoroughly flushed clean.

Other objects and advantages will, with the foregoing, appear and be understood in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consisting in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a view in side elevation illustrating a tube holder constructed to embody the preferred teachings of the present invention and incorporating a fragment'ary showing of a collapsible tube in the position occupied when the same is held by the holder.

FIG. 2 is an underside plan View of the holder with parts broken away and in section.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view on line 3-3 of FIG. 2, with a phantom showing of a collapsible tube; and

FIG. 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view on line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

In the present holder, like the patent hereinabove identified, the collapsible tube 5 is caused to be releasably gripped by inserting its threaded neck 6 into the central aperture 7 of an annulus 8 which is composed of rubber or an analogous material having such moderate flexibility as will permit a central portion surrounding the aperture to be yieldingly deflected in either axial direction from a normalplanar condition. Other than for this gripping annulus the holder proper of the present invention is composed entirely of molded plastic and is a fabricated structure with the component parts snugly interfitted and the assembly integrated by cementing the joints.

The assembly includes a frustum-like hood 9 having a paraboliform plan configuration and provided in its rectilineal end wall 10 with a transversely extending dove-tail groove 11. This dove-tail groove is exposed to one side face and slidably accommodates a mating mounting bracket 12 secured by screws 13 to a vertical wall surface. The hood is made hollow with the bottom open and presents a downwardly facing ledge 14 extending about the inner perimeter along a portion of each of the two sides and the connecting curve. A plate 15 seats on this ledge. The plate is pierced by a moderately large circular opening 16 placed concentric to the curved end of the hood. The plate has its upper surface bossed, as at 17, so as to circumscribe a shoulder 18 surrounding the opening. The rubber annulus 8 seats on said shoulder and is engaged by a follower 20 having a pilot fit within the boss. To reiterate, the hood 9, plate 15, and follower 20 are bonded by cement, becoming an integrated unit after assembly.

It will be seen that access to the space above the annulus is provided by a relatively large bottom opening 21 presented between the plate 15 and the grooved end wall 10 of the hood. This opening permits ready flushing of the interior of the holder.

In using the holder, it is only necessary for engaging the tube that the neck of the opened tube 5 be pushed upwardly into the aperture of the rubber annulus. The rubber flexes from the normal condition in which it is shown in FIG. 4 into the stressed condition represented in FIG. 3. A downward pull readily disengages the tube when paste is to be dispensed.

Minor departures from the preferred embodiment which I have illustrated and described can be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is my intention that no limitations be implied and that the hereto annexed claims be given a scope fully commensurate with the broadest interpretation to which the employed language fairly admits.

What I claim is:

1. A tube holder comprising a hood having means for removably attaching the same to a wall and formed with a circumscribing skirt defining a relatively deep open-bottom cavity and presenting a downwardly facing ledge along the inner perimeter of the bottom opening, a centrally apertured plate seating on said ledge and upon its upper face having an annular boss outwardly spaced from the central aperture in surrounding relation thereto so as to present an upwardly facing shoulder surrounding said boss; an annulus made of resilient deformable material seating upon said shoulder, the central aperture of the annulus serving to grip the neck of the tube and being substantially smaller than the central aperture of the plate, and a ring-shaped follower bearing on and having a pilot fit within the boss so as to contain the peripheral portion of the annulus, said hood, plate, and follower being molded from plastic and bonded one to another by cement, the thrust exerted upon the holder when a tube held thereby is removed under force of a manual pull being passed from the annulus directly to the shoulder and distributed uniformly throughout the circumference thereof.

2. A tube holder comprising a hood having means for removably attaching the same to a wall and formed with a circumscribing skirt defining a relatively deep openbottom cavity and presenting a downwardly facing ledge along the inner perimeter of the bottom opening, a centrally apertured plate seating on said ledge and upon its upper face having an annular boss outwardly spaced from the central aperture in surrounding relation thereto so as to present an upwardly facing shoulder surrounding said boss, an annulus made of resilient deformable material seating upon said shoulder, the central aperture of the annulus serving to grip the neck of the tube and being substantially smaller than the central aperture of the plate, and a ring-shaped follower having a pilot fit within the boss so as to contain the peripheral portion of the annulus, said hood, plate, and follower being '3 molded from plastic and bonded one to another by cement, the thrust exerted upon the holder when a tube held thereby is removed under force of a manual pull being passed from the annulus directly to the shoulder and distributed uniformly throughout the circumference thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Connors July 7, 1959 

